According to Crispin Jessop at Dynama successful projects start from within. Here, he reveals seven tips to keeping one step ahead of the competition with an effective training matrix
You know that running a successful offshore business is a complicated and challenging affair. Ensuring you have sufficient workforce, that have the right skills and is fully compliant with the rigorous safety obligations of your company, your clients and the industry at large, demands continuous training and monitoring and can require a lot of management time.
For many organizations, significant amounts of time, effort and money are wasted by a lack of accurate documentation and a siloed approach to resource optimization. Failure to meet the specific skills requirements of clients and prove compliance with health and safety regulations can result in lost business and a damaged corporate reputation.
So, what does it take to win in the increasingly competitive offshore construction industry where resources move constantly between projects and companies? How do you gain control?
The secret lies in developing an effective training and skills matrix that keeps track of your skilled people wherever they may be in the world. Utilize the latest workforce optimization technology to put you on the right track and follow these seven steps to create your very own talent powerhouse:
1. Develop a single view of skills around the world – in minutes – web-based technology enables safety and compliance teams to produce a detailed skills matrix by role, vessel or department. At a glance, they can see which personnel are missing mandatory or required certificates or competences as well as their full training history, skills expiry dates and any endorsements, medical or visas necessary for different geographic regions
2. Demonstrate compliance with health and safety regulations – a centralized skills matrix stores all the relevant associated documentation providing the hard evidence necessary to simplify and accelerate the auditing process
3. Thrive on constant change – with essential skills information at your fingertips, you are well positioned to ensure staff maintain a sufficient level of expertise to stay up-to-speed with changes in your own business and an evolving regulatory landscape
4. Deploy the right staff to the right project at the right time, at the right cost – by linking skills requirements to roles and positions, planners and managers can quickly identify if they have anyone with the requisite skills to fill a specific role and if not who, with the appropriate training could fit the bill?
5. Deliver the right training at the right time – make the most of data held in your system to take a current and historic look at existing personnel skills, identify skills gaps and develop tailored training packages in a timely manner. Well-trained staff are, not only better motivated but, crucial to executing large-scale, complex engineering projects with aggressive deadlines and on budget
6. Boost employee morale, retain your best staff – maximise the latest technology to store a wealth of valuable information that can be used to identify potential promotional prospects based on grade and the individual’s skills. This will equip your HR Department with the tools and information to develop a well-defined career path for key staff. Remember, some of the best performing organizations know how to attract and retain staff to create an equally high-performing workforce that is empowered and incentivised to win new business
7. Keep clients happy – offshore organizations need to prove their credentials when bidding for a project and again when providing skilled personnel to vessels or projects. Powerful skills management information makes it easy to produce meaningful reports that demonstrate vessel and position compliance against a published skills matrix or specific client requirements. Furthermore, it can help managers provide existing and prospective clients with accurate project résumés that inspire confidence, boost client loyalty and enhance corporate reputation, and help win more business.
Finally, wrap up your training and skills matrix with some worthwhile professional services consultancy. Look out for vendors who provide both sophisticated technology and the specialist offshore industry knowledge and training support, enabling you to create a robust yet flexible skills framework and encourage best-practice sharing throughout your organization. This combined approach will generate increased efficiencies that guarantee successful client projects and greater profits, keeping you one step ahead of the competition. It’s time to unlock the full potential of your very own talent powerhouse with the help of an automated skills matrix.
Crispin Jessop is a workforce management specialist at www.dynama.global
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About Dynama
Dynama, an Allocate Software company, builds on 25 years’ heritage and is a leading provider of maritime and defence workforce deployment software. Headquartered in London, Dynama has a new office in Canberra (Australia) with sales and support in the USA.
Its flagship product, OneView, is designed to underpin complex workforce management in safety critical, highly skilled and legislated environments, delivering both safe staffing and productivity savings by way of informed decision making.
For more information, visit www.dynama.global
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